A Beast among Monsters
by Gryz
Summary: This is a writing challenge given to me by a friend. "Post a story written via a string of pearls." Basically, writing by a string of pearls is when story chapters are small segments that are then strung in place after seeing where they would fit best in place. This means that the chapters I will be posting, when I feel they are ready to be posted, will still be out of sync.
1. Chapter 1 - Worgen Landing

This sight. These clouds. Sprawling around my frame on all sides as far as I can see. I'm falling, towards ground so far from sight that details have yet to come into focus. It only takes a moment, a single pull of magic to gather the clouds around me to soften and slow my descent. As their pillowy mass dances around under my toes from this height, I can get a better eyeful of the lands.

A sight of beauty. This land is so untouched in most places, so pure. Virginal forests and landscapes that are unmarred by the endless wars. The only marring of grey and brown markings to dot it are its cities and even from this vantage I can tell they are so unlike anything I've seen. Beyond the single shielding hand failing to prevent the winds from whipping my pelt into a frenzy, I can see their structures are almost uniformly crisp and each city looks similar enough to one another from this distance. No overly vibrant uniform colors, no uniquely distinguishing marks to show who owned what lands, no defenses erected to protect from invaders.

This reverie was promptly interrupted by the whipping whistle of some unknown large beast soaring past at speed unfathomable. Its jarring roar hitches my thoughts to reform the clouds and slow my plunge to the now much closer green fields overlooking a beach. Such a simple spell and yet I'm already winded. Mana feels so thin in this environment delaying my innate recovery and forcing me to rely on that internal well of it more. Closing my eyes, I reach out and find that at least the Light is still a present force. I can already tell I will need its strength.

The crisp crumple of grass it fights to stay erect with several blades slipping between my toes makes me look down and immediately realize my condition. Whatever brought me here, must've done so in the dead of night. I am only decent by fur alone. Though my ebon pelt obscures details sparingly but enough, and will have to do. This must be correct though, I don't want any stranger that might find me thinking I'd gone back to our kin's feral roots. I may not have time for that for the voices nearby alert me to their presence. I should not be seen like this. At least the tall grass will provide some cover.

Following the trio of voices as best I can from the camouflage of grass, I find its source with confusion in abundance. These are not people, but beasts. A snake and a mongoose standing on its hind legs are screaming at one another, while the third attempts to mediate. I cannot immediately tell if that is a cat or dog but its single horn would be an oddity on either species. This rumination makes me forget my intent to stay hidden, as when the snake looks in my direction and sees a haunting shadow obscured in grass with glowing green eyes, it slithers quick to flee. A derisive taunt is bellowed out by the mongoose in a masculine tone before it looks in my direction and does much the same, leaving the four-legged one behind in its dust. The remaining one whines, flailing about a fore paw to clear the bits of dirt from its vision before it also looks in my direction. It doesn't flee but is rather frozen in place. Pleading words spill out freely from a mewled out tone.

"I intend no harm." It flinches and further backpedals from my presence. Maybe the direct coarseness of my cadence is frightful. The blacken face twitches and white fur rustles from the trembles passing through the small beast. Consoling is a pointless endeavor it seems, it is already fleeing from me. I will work my way to the nearby town I spotted from the air. As valid an option as anything else given I have no clue where I am. It is thankfully not far away as barely an hour passes before the city's visage overtakes the sight of the mountainside it is erected against.

This is not Azeroth. A lingering suspicion made a concrete fact in my mind once I am close to the outskirts of this town. The inhabitants are human at least, save for similar beasts to the wild ones I spotted before following alongside the humans, but this presents its own problems. These humans are jovial, calm and lax. They are not on alert or drilling themselves for the constant looming threat of some great evil. Nobody is even practicing a valuable craft as far as I can see, unless there is one I do not know that involves those two-wheel contraptions I see speeding by on a path of dirt and smoothed stone. Still, it is humans.

I am left with a predicament. I could revert my form to hide my nature, but I will be left questionably indecent, or I could approach as I am and face the problems as they present themselves. Given how freely these humans embrace these talking beasts, would I even be poorly received? Then again, most of these beasts don't seem as large as me, and how they stay so close to their respective humans raises its own questions to the nature of their relationship. So, being perceived as a fellow human would possibly be more beneficial in the long run. If I had more mage training I could craft an illusion of some sort, possibly conjure some clothing. Bah!

Retracting the thick black fur back beneath olive skin under a plume of smoke that passes over my frame, I wait in the tall grass. Minutes feel like hours but thankfully I do not have to wait too long. A human pedaling one of those thin vehicles is coming so close to my hiding spot. He nearly falls off it at hearing the pitch of my voice commanding its attention. Are all the creatures of this world so skittish? Now stopped and looking toward my emerging bare top half from the tall grass though, it seems even less at ease. This human is young so perhaps I should not judge too harshly.

"Child. I need your assistance. I do not know where I am, and I seem to have lost my clothing." He shrinks from the deep bluntness of my voice almost as much as the small beast did earlier. At least this one doesn't immediately flee even though the purple rodent in the basket asks him to do exactly that as it loudly proclaims it doesn't trust my smell in its squeaky feminine tone. Oddly enough the human doesn't listen to his purple rodent companion, declares it will go get help and rides off into the city. He looks to be heading toward a building with a red roof that I saw getting a lot of foot traffic from the humans. It must be an important place for them. I suppose I should be glad that he didn't heed the small rodent's pleas.

Nearly another hour passes and a different small contraption is heading along the path on sand in a beeline from the red roof building toward me. When it stops, an actual adult dressed in some elaborate uniform steps out. She is followed almost immediately by the child and a small canine. At her behest for my location, an almost condescending request made toward the child, I stand up partially from the grass, "Ma'am, I am here." Her surprise was palpable. Her accompanying critter was as unnerved and perturbed by my existence as the rest of the talking creatures have been. It takes her several moments to process this, as if she did not believe the youth about my very existence, enough time to register that I do not even see the rodent companion of the boy now.

This lingering awkwardness nearly unbearable, she finally produces a loose cloth sheet for me from the rear storage compartment of the small vehicle. The little canine growls its displeasure the entire time I am near this strangely garbed woman who declared herself an officer. I am sure this mistrust from creatures more beast than me will never be annoying to tolerate. Draped in such a drab brown cloth in the back, she takes me into the city. This day will end. I can put this abashedness behind me. Even now, it is merely a thought boiling on the back burner while still trying to learn where I am, its relation to Azeroth, and if return home is possible.

The Church of Light loses its people all the time. Our aid is always in demand and death is an ever-present possibility for those healing on the front lines. I was out on such a duty. They will reason I have been slain or kidnapped, as they should. I would draw the same conclusion were I to hear the same about another member, if they had disappeared as suddenly as I had. I will not delude myself into thinking my higher ranking with the church will grant me special treatment. This means the efforts of returning home will fall squarely on me, and I have no means to pursue such. The Light does not provide teleportation spells. I cannot open portals connected to the Nether. With mana so thin here, are any of those native to these lands able to practice magic? Possibilities and likelihoods are dwindling, cast aside with all the fanfare of the buildings that slide from view. All I am left with is the realization that I am marooned on a strange world with no hope of return.

The travel through the city in this strange motorized vehicle. Transportation that is far quieter than any mechanization crafted by the gnomes. The canine's constant watching glare is unwelcome but thankfully the trip is short. We did not go to the red roof building but rather a white shop they called a boutique, a clothing store, and I could not be happier with that being the first stop. I was also corrected that the originally suspected destination was not actually the officer's guard station. That palpable confusion that rolled off her expression so freely with emotions unrestrained returns. The boy shared in it this time. They were both baffled I had no knowledge regarding the center of treatment for the beasts. Their culture must have a great deal of reverence for the place as they cannot even fathom my ignorance of such a place. Their probing questions regarding my unawareness are not something I will address so instead I step out and into the building for clothing. The officer tersely dismisses the child before following me inside.

This smell. This void of natural odors made by harsh chemicals, and instead artificially recreating the scent of citrus fruit. It gives me more pause than any of her demanding shouts for answers or the bafflement of the workers gazing at the both of us. Their forced attempts of being cordial and civil to masquerade their bitter awkwardness is painfully transparent. I will be thankful for the end of this day. The fresh hells of tomorrow will wait. Or maybe it won't, these colors. How garish and bright. No, I do not want a branding cap atop my head. Something akin to a tabard, a partial depiction of some orb of importance is etched onto this green shirt. They wear this mockery of individuality upon the sleeve it seems. They have no long pants either, just shorts, and their meager footwear selection is just as atrocious. I know beggars can't be choosers, and the clerk was at least kind enough to let me have the garments without reimbursement after hearing my plight from the officer that has informed me yet again her name is Jenny.

Finally realizing I did not have the answers she seeks, or at least will not provide them, I am informed that the center of treatment has room and board meant for trainers, as she put it, and that it would be free as opposed to the hotel. This will have to do. I have gotten at least some answers to my questions by some coercion without answering hers. Learning their dialect and terms will make adapting less painful, even if her tone seems more and more to shift as if she were addressing someone painfully dull of thought. These sentient, speaking beasts are referred to as pokemon, and the center of healing is called a pokecenter. Apparently most cities will have one. I am informed travel of these lands all but requires a beast companion. This back and forth is borderline interminable as only my name is the only thing I will provide the officer so her deference to going to the center now is welcome. Her motions have grown stiff and rigid from distrust. My tongue is not as agile as I thought.

The nurse working the front desk of this crisp building has pastel colored hair nearly as jarring as Jenny's. After she welcomes me to the Cyllage City Center and I request a room, the awkwardness returns like a bad dream when I do not have a trainer's identification card on me. Joy finally issues me a card that is treated akin to a key after relenting to the officer. Afterwards I am informed I will need a trainer's license as soon as possible or else the courtesy of a free room from these centers will no longer be granted. For now though, at long last this dreadfulness will finally be put past me, rest is moments away as I walk to a numbered room. As a final cruelty, a final revelation to plague my thoughts and keep me awake tonight, comes to light from a source of innocence. Uttered with such sincerity from the mouth of a young girl playing with a floating pile of light pink fluff off to the side that itself was voicing some cooed out words of delight.

"I wish I knew what you were saying."


	2. Chapter 6 - The Little Devilsaur

This river is bleeding into the ocean so I can't be far. I can even see a city off in the horizon to the north, though the framing of steep mountains from this side means I should probably backtrack and find a better way up. The winding spiral climb of rock has flattened out to a path it seems. My explorations may have covered alot of ground haphazardly and yet by this cave entrance, I check again. Looking over the map and seeing the cave entrance relation I can tell I am so close to getting back to where I had originally started. The point of my arrival in this world. It's just over the mountainside it seems. I could get there within a few hours either by climbing or taking the path at this point. At this point stopping in the city will probably be the best given I am low on provisions again. Or, hmm, this level path is bizarre. It seems ill-maintained and broken compared to the rest on the map I have come across. Excess jagged rock formations line its relatively flat surface. Still, a trifling matter as it takes little time to bring forth a formation of clouds from thin air beneath these sneakers to carry me across.

My heavy reliance on this spell to cross wild terrain is worrisome and yet calming. For all the traveling I have seen so little of the population's presence the second I began to travel off-road. There is no pressing to claim the wilderness with their expanse. They seem to be kept in check by the pokemon, or maybe it is because their population is so meager and yet spread out. Can't look a gift horse in the mouth though, I don't have to explain this ability to anyone and these beasts don't act too concerned. At least not at first glance. Even as I land, the resting grey beast barely raises its head to acknowledge my floating form touching down upon the path one it becomes better smoothed out. Of course it seems so tame, so I hazard the guess this might be a trainer's pokemon. Nobody is around though and it seems just as happy to be undisturbed as it merely grunts a greeting at my lingering. Well. Yeah, should just leave him to his business.

The steps are thankfully brief and I find myself in a checkpoint of some type. They react as if surprised to see me, then rifling through paperwork to verify I did not come through the other side originally after I have given them my name. Seems they don't get many through this direction originally but after hearing of my little hike their concern fades beyond warning me the path I had come from is dangerous and to not go that way again without the aid of a pokemon lift to cross the clay. Clay? How baffling. Once the assurances I would not attempt such have been made, I am allowed into Ambrette Town. Granted, it is a small town. Very few residential buildings with its central appeal being an aquarium. A strange juxtaposition to a city with a motto that draws attention to their foliage in this rocky city. The only greenery to be found is in their tanks. There is also a lab studying the fossils and a center to heal my team up at.

Though their services for healing are hardly needed, I can't help but feel like I should at least use them in case I get flagged for my gear being registered by them too infrequently. The nature of their regulations is mess I don't want to tangle myself in so for now I will just do my best to comply. Besides I already was there to shop, the moneys earned from my infrequent battles keeping my sack full with what they had to spare. There was also a hotel that might've been nice to crash at if it weren't only noon and frankly I have no desire to dwell here in this city. Afterall it only took me an hour at the aquarium to exhaust the entertainment this city had to offer.

Taking their northern beach exit and heading along the crags that frame the way with such a stark difference compared to the open waters, I can tell how I can't be that far from the city I started in. Yet, that place is not my goal. After letting the off-road vehicle pass me so I am out of sight, I take the detour that leads to the foliage I found myself in, climbing higher and giving me that view I first found when I arrived to this world. How strange that I could feel so little. No grand poignant peaks or longings to fuel a passionate desire to return home blossom in my heart to make my chest tighter. I suppose the few blessings of my world is to know how to handle hardships and losses like the best of them. Or maybe this is the peaceful reverie that we all seek and wish for in the end.

Rustling. Movement. Not far, but not immediately nearby either. A moment that floods back and I cannot stop myself from searching for its source. I almost expected to see the trio I had that first time. Instead, no, a brown reptilian beast is foraging. Or at least attempting to. Those tiny arms are not the most helpful to the task. It looks like someone's young. My greeting startles it but only so much, so maybe it is used to being around humans. Granted that surprise settles into wary.

"Heh. Where the other humans go?" His head turns to the horizon, assuming it is male with that almost gruff voice that is still a few octaves shy of mine.

"If you mean the ones in the vehicle, they went back to the city." This answer makes the beast stiffen and level a sharp gaze in my direction. Little tufts of white stand up on end. An awkward silence lingers between the two of us. It at least gives me time to read up on the beast from my gear. Runt seems a harsh label for the creature though his over-sized jaw does make the rest of the body come across as small. That head is nearly larger than the rest of his body combined. Though he seems confused by my sudden shift of focus to the device, he also comes off agitated for paying no heed while in his presence. It startles him when I speak up again. "Do you need to get back to them?" A begrudging nod is his delayed answer. I suppose a quick trip back won't take too long. Climbing higher on the mountainside rather than circling back down onto the beach, we will end up near the north side of the town in no time.

"How can you understand me?" The brown saurian creature finally breaks his self-imposed silence. I peer back to him trailing some distance behind me to keep me in sight while following me back to town. I can't help but snort.

"You ask me like I should know the logistics of this. Frankly I don't know why the others can't." This holds enough truth to it though I could hazard a guess that Goldrinn would be part of the explanation. The enhanced senses give me a great deal of information. Despite being out of sight I can smell how he is growing less circumspect of my presence while I guide him. A pretty lackluster walk even while not taking the route until the sounds of a brawl are barreling closer. The tall grass flattens as several black vipers serpents and two white mongooses have their intense free-for-all spill out into the open.

While it is shocking in its own right to have it plop out in front of me, at least this time I already know of their mutual antagonism. Any one of these could well be the one of the first pokemons I saw after first arriving here. Then again that hardly matters. Even if they were, I can't imagine they would suspect that looming feral shadow that spooked them would have been me. Curiously though the miniature devilsaur was somehow more surprised and taken aback by this than I was. The horde of speckled ebon serpents quickly overtake the pair then, after spotting us, they move together toward me and the young mon. I stiffen a bit not expecting this sudden unified hostility. Honestly I would prefer not send any of mine into the fray to take on this many and the little saurian doesn't strike me as battle hardened yet.

After weighing my options, I take a combative stance while my right hand glows with a warm light that builds the longer I chant under my breath. Their collective stunned looks over this strange and sudden illumination deepen into outright terror when a slinging gesture from that hand towards one results in a raking of golden light that leaves my target screaming and writhing in agony. They cannot comprehend what just happened and scatter back into the brush, barreling now in a frenzy to flee. Good. Glad they realized they want nothing to do with me.

Course, the injured ones fled too. Seems the threat of whatever I am is worth any potential further injury gained in running. The seviper I smited is the last one to flee given it took the longest to come to its senses after reeling from the pain. Injured, but none dead. With that dealt with my attention snaps back to my charge, half expecting that he has fled too. Certainly didn't expect to see him staring at me with an intense glint in his eyes. His body and stance are notably rigid, an inexperience combatant itching for a fight. He looks more disgruntled when I dismiss his desire to battle me with a bland, "Ready to keep going?"

That stance doesn't fully unlock even when I turn away and continue the trek back to the city. His gait is different. Muscle strain thuds his steps that little bit louder that he sounds like he's stomping with lingering frustration. I'm sure the dwarf devilsaur will get over it. This tension only lets up when the earthen shaded village comes into view. I guess it's something he recognizes because his mood change was shift and complete. Walking out in front of me at last with an elated throaty trill then nearly running home, I follow along to finish the task of seeing him home. But as the back of the lab is rapidly coming into view his speed drops to a lazy amble before stilling altogether. By the time I can get near him, that overgrown snout whips in my direction. A profound and uncanny familiarity strikes me when I see wistful eyes tempering by the second in resolution.

"I'm going with you." What? "I will beat you!" _What?_

I can't say I'm entirely comfortable bringing this youthful dinosaur along with me when it has such explicit intentions to quarrel with me, but those eyes. The longer I see them; the more an ache of Duskhaven blossoms. Spurred recollections of such determined glints from men and worgen alike blinds my awareness of this world. A cascading flood of grand rallying cries for home and country rings in my ears. Those eyes, so full of tenacity and conviction. They are not something I can forsake. "Sure."

I'm afraid I will never understand the denizens of this world. He seems elated enough by my consent to this one-sided rivalry that he leaps in and fiercely hugs himself to my torso with those meager forelimbs. A nagging prickling sensation makes itself known when a white coated lady beckons for the tyrunt. Beyond awkward, or at least I suspected it to be. Somehow, I was wrong. I didn't expect for the rather simple acceptance of the pokemon's decision. Even if they cannot communicate, they still show a modicum of respect that all beings capable of rational thought deserve. Somehow this realization almost makes me consider to cease hiding my bestial nature. Such folly. Thankfully the song and dance of having the unregistered pokeball assigned to my ID is brief. It even gives me the option to name him; I guess the scientists did not. How strange. Well. One should aspire to their dreams. "Let's go, Kros."


End file.
